No proposal under consideration to amend NMC Act for abolishing NEET at national level: MoS Health in Parliament

New Delhi: The Government is not considering any proposal to abolish the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam at the national level, the Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Smt Anupriya Patel recently confirmed before the Lok Sabha.

MoS Patel informed this in response to the questions raised by Parliament member Shri S Venkatesan. He sought to know from the Ministry if the Government was aware of the resolution of the Tamil Nadu State Legislative Assembly dated 28 June, 2024 urging the Union Government to approve Tamil Nadu's NEET exemption bill and to make amendments to the National Medical Commission Act in order to abolish NEET at the national level.

He also sought to know the details of the Government's response to the resolution of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

However, in response to these questions, the Union Minister of State for Health confirmed that there was no plans by the Government to amend NMC Act 2019 and abolish NEET exam, which is the undergraduate entrance test for admission to undergraduate medical courses including MBBS.

"No proposal is under consideration with Government to amend National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019 for abolishing NEET at the national level," the MoS Health informed.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that amid the row over NEET paper leak controversy, the Tamil Nadu Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution against the NEET exam, urging the union government to scrap NEET and allow state governments to undertake medical admissions based on class 12 marks, as was done before NEET's implementation.

The resolution was introduced by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin amid uproar over a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination and the sudden postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 examination.

Several regional parties, including Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), supported the resolution.

Earlier, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP K. Kanimozhi reiterated the demand to "exempt" Tamil Nadu from NEET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for medical admissions across the country.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passes resolution to scrap NEET